Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Nov
6
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Just So You Don’t Freak Out, They Did Wash His Hair In The Nursery…”
“Just so you don’t freak out, they did wash his hair in the nursery, not his body, so the pediatrician says you *NEED* to do it *NOW*.” – L&D Nurse to new mother.
There are 39 comments to this post.
They don’t have to be bathed right away. IN FACT, it’s best not to, unless they let out meconium in the womb. It’s best not to so that the vernix gets rubbed into the skin to keep it moist and not dry out.
[Reply]
Stephanie Shields had this to say,
Nov 6, 2011 @ 11:00 am (Quote)
When I had my daughter 2 years ago they sorta cleaned her off with a dry rag but she didn’t get a bath until 24hrs after she was born….and it was no big deal…
[Reply]
My baby went 6 weeks in hospital without a bath, she only had one because they needed to tick off on the discharge papers I knew how to bath her… She had tops and tails though. I still don’t bath her too often (T&T still) which my mum hates lol!
[Reply]
Melissa Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 12:12 pm (Quote)
My son has horrible eczema and dermatographism…bathing him dries out his skin even more – no matter how gentle a wash I use. The less I bathe him, the more comfortable he is. Even more so with a newborn and their super-fragile skin.
[Reply]
CAJ Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 1:38 pm (Quote)
My first was the same…less baths = better skin.
Infact I am pretty convinced that the J&J crap they bathed her in and the fact they forced her to have a little formula in hospital is the root cause of her shockingly bad skin.
My son received none of the above and although eczema is in my family, and he does have eczema, his skin is SOOOOO MUCH better 
[Reply]
Kayla Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 12:14 pm (Quote)
Yep! I rarely bathed my son as a newborn, and even now at 2 1/2 years old, he showers with me and I hardly EVER use soap. I never have to use lotion either, his skin is very hydrated without soap or lotion…and eczema runs rampant in our family.. I rarely use soap, just warm water (minus my hair), and we don’t have any skin problems.
[Reply]
My sister has a two year old. I have an 8 month old. She bathes her child everyday, I bathe mine once a week, if needed. Comparatively, my son is much healthier than her daughter, and requires far less lotioning, even when only looking at her daughter’s first 8 months.
[Reply]
BeckyJ Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 11:22 am (Quote)
Bodily oils are good for the skin and hair. That’s why they are secreted. I don’t even shower everyday. Sadly, alot of parents aren’t aware of this and then wonder why their child’s skin is so dry.
[Reply]
Mama Wrench Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 11:33 am (Quote)
It depends on the kid, too — my son develops a rash if he doesn’t get a bath every three days or so. We tried switching laundry detergent, soap, lotions — but apparently he just has excessively oily skin and needs more baths than most. I only wash his hair once a week or so, though.
[Reply]
ashley Bean Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 3:27 pm (Quote)
Everyday bath for a 2 yr old?!?!? Wow!! My son gets a daily ‘sponge bath’, with just water on a washcloth, but he only gets a real soap and water bath when he needs it. He’s 16 months and everyone compliments his pretty hair. lol.
[Reply]
Kristin Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 3:34 pm (Quote)
Yeah, my sister has bathed her daughter everyday since she was two weeks old. She kinda freaked when I told her that I may put my son in warm water to calm him before bead every few days, but I don’t wash him unless he is dirty.
I just figure, don’t fix what ain’t broke.
[Reply]
Even with meconium you do not need to bathe right away. We didn’t bathe our son till the next day and he was covered in poo. Meconium doesn’t smell bad. And one can rub away most of it anyway.
[Reply]
Renai Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 2:48 pm (Quote)
Yep, I was a homebirth transfer, and even though my girl had passed meconium,, they didn’t bathe her. They just asked if they could get some out her hair (she had a lot of hair!), but nothing vigorous. The ped was rubbing vernix in her skin the next day. In fact, back at home it took me a couple of days to realize the bits in her hair were blood and meconium.
[Reply]
When I had my second child, in Germany, the midwives at the hospital said that they don’t generally wash the babies unless the parents really want it done. Or, I suppose, if after a c-section since they are still there in the hospital for 8-10 days, they might offer a bath.
They told me “the stuff on the baby needs to be on the baby, it keeps them healthy” and that was fine by me!
By contrast, when my third baby was less than 24 hours old, I had nurses wanting to wash her. I declined over and over politely and they kept offering but weren’t too pushy. They said I could bring in whatever products I wanted from home or even just use water. Finally, the last time they asked the one nurse said “it’s ok to say no, she looks pretty clean anyway and I’m sure she’s fine” and that was that!
Actually my baby is 5 days old, still very clean and no sponge bath yet. She still has that amazing newborn smell.
[Reply]
Silja Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 4:21 am (Quote)
Yes, I had my first birth (twins) in Ireland and they suggested no bathing for at least two weeks, just a quick wash with a cloth if we feel it was needed. I only bath my kids once a week till they are pre-kers (unless a poop explosion, of course!), it is better for their skin. My third was born in a US hospital and I had it written in my birthplan that she was not to be bathed- I also roomed in so they couldn’t sneak that past me. They respected my wishes, despite her having some blood on her scalp.
[Reply]
Why was the nurse saying “just so you don’t freak out”? It’s not clear whether the nurse thinks the mother will freak out because the hair wasn’t clean yet or whether the nurse thinks the mother will freak out because the hair is inexplicably clean.
If the mother said, “I don’t want you to bathe the baby” and the nurse was saying, “Well we didn’t BATHE him, but we did wash his hair,” then that’s pretty much at the emotional level of a second grader. “You told me to clean my room, so I threw my toys into the hall. The hall is not my room, neener neener.”
And I think that may be it, in the absence of a pink link: Mom tells the nurse not to bathe the baby, so the nurse goes off and washes the baby’s hair, then says to the pediatrician, “Should I bathe the kid?” and the pediatrician says, “Yeah, why not?” and then the nurse marches back down the hall and says, “Don’t freak out — we didn’t do the thing you told us not to, only something real close to it. And the pediatrician says you MUST bathe the baby now anyhow. Neener neener.”
[Reply]
BeckyJ Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 4:04 pm (Quote)
I’m sure the nurse said “don’t freak out” because the mother had alot of specific things they didn’t want done that is part of protocol. And possibly, the mother had already been on them about following up on her wishes. I can’t wait for a pink link on this.
[Reply]
I don’t understand what the rush is!!! I wish I had known I could refuse the bath when my son was born. I had my second at home so we were in charge of everything and it was so nice. She didn’t get her first bath until she was about 2wks old. We just rubbed the vernix in little by little but there wasn’t too much to start with. She was pretty clean when she was born. She is 6 months now and gets a bath about every 1.5-2wks and she always smells so yummy.
[Reply]
Mama Wrench had this to say,
Nov 6, 2011 @ 3:43 pm (Quote)
Call me crazy, but don’t most full-term babies only have a little bit of vernix in the first place? I thought it was mostly premies who have a lot of it.
[Reply]
Kali Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 3:48 pm (Quote)
Not always. I attended the birth of a 39 weeker who was COVERED in vernix. It was a birth center birth so no rush to bathe baby. I got some cool pictures of him looking very cheesy.
[Reply]
BeckyJ Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 4:07 pm (Quote)
My 2nd was 40 weeks on the dot and had plenty of oily vernix to rub in, which, unfortunately was wasted by the stupid nurses who wanted her “clean”.
[Reply]
Mama Wrench Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 5:05 pm (Quote)
Aw — I remember my Memere talking about how when all the women in her family had babies, they’d all want to rub the baby to make their hands soft. My son was a c-section baby so I didn’t get to see him when he was still all icky and sweet 
[Reply]
Bonita Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 4:47 pm (Quote)
My 41 week 6day gestational aged baby had TONS of vernix all over her body. (No, I don’t think we miscalculated the dates that bad. She was 10lbs 6ozs, the same size as my 40 week 4 day old son who was born a year earlier). My 40 week 4 day sn and my 41 week 1 day daughter didn’t have much. It is so very different for each baby.
[Reply]
sara r. had this to say,
Nov 6, 2011 @ 7:02 pm (Quote)
My two year old gets a bath in plain water every 3 or 4 days. I don’t even wash her hair most of the time. Her skin is perfect and she smells great, lol. My best friend has 3 boys and insists that they need a bath every day, yet her 4 year old has excema that doesn’t get better. I think it’s a combination of the antibiotics and the baths..
[Reply]
I bathe my boys now every school night. They get a shower. But they are nine and four, and they freaking stink if they don’t get washed often. When the younger was a baby, he’d get a bath twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday, unless he needed it (he was a pooper and it was smelly!).
I actually had a dream the other night that I birthed a baby girl at home (I’m not pregnant, nor do I plan to be any time soon), and there was plenty of vernix on her to go around!
[Reply]
Aimee had this to say,
Nov 7, 2011 @ 1:18 pm (Quote)
This is mine. I specifically asked the nurses not to bathe him. I researched the importants of vernix and it was really important for me. Not to mention that I really just think it’s mommy’s right to share that first bath… Not some random nurse! Anyway- they bugged me all and then the day nurse came in and took him to the nursery for testing. Before they brought him back she said this to me. She then supervised me while I bathed MY child. And made a snarky comment about “much cuter now that your all cleaned up.” Mind you my son was far from “filthy”. Just irritating that you don’t get to make your own choices with your child.
[Reply]
Tee Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 2:11 pm (Quote)
Aimee, thanks for coming and giving us the back story on this one. I’m so sorry that the nurse bullied you like that. You are absolutely correct… it’s the Momma’s right to give that bath! The bottom line of it all is that you had every right to refuse having them bathe your son and they didn’t treat your politely. I’m really sorry.
[Reply]
Add Your Comment.
Previous Post
« “…There Are So Many Babies Here That I just Can’t Keep Them Straight…” Next Post
“…I Have No Idea What That Means.” »
« “…There Are So Many Babies Here That I just Can’t Keep Them Straight…” Next Post
“…I Have No Idea What That Means.” »
GAAAHHHH!!! What is with hospitals and insisting that brand new babies be given a bath right away? I know that the baby is considered a “biohazard” until they’re bathed, so the nurses will pressure you because it makes their job easier, but what business would it be of the pediatrician? I’m guessing the ped said no such thing and nursie-poo is just lying to get mom to give in. I’d also be one pissed off mama if they washed my babies hair after I asked them not to bathe him (I’m assuming this was the situation).
[Reply]